1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric appliance, and more particularly to an electric appliance capable of saving power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, many electric appliances, especially home appliances have a remote controller that remote-controls the operation of them. Namely, the electric appliances have a remote-control signal receiver that receives the command signal such as infrared or ultrasonic output by the remote controller when the remote controller is operated in addition to its function unit that performs its original function. Said remote-control signal receiver is always in a standby state so that it may receive the action command signal from the remote controller.
Furthermore, some of the electric appliances apply an electric current to a part of the electric circuit (warm-up circuit) and make it to be in a warm-up state all the time. As a typical example, the audio-visual equipment such as TV set or video deck can be cited, but it is possible with other electric appliances, not limited to these. And, many of the electric appliances display the time when they are not in use. Electric appliances that have each of said functions consume the standby power.
Recently, the big standby power consumption of electric appliances, especially home appliances has become a problem. According to the data of Tokyo Electric Power Company, for instance, the maximum power consumption in use and standby power consumption are: 220 W and 2.2 W for 32 in. wide-screen TV set; 19 W and 13.3 W for video deck; 26.7 W and 14.4 W for portable stereo equipment, respectively. It is said that 10% of entire power consumption of a household is the standby power consumption. It is estimated about 8,000 yen per annum on the basis of the power consumption of a standard household (power consumption; 280 KWxc2x7H/month). As the remote-control signal receiver is always in a standby state, it always consumes power. Said warm-up circuit is always applied with electric current and consumes power, as well. The power consumed by these parts is the standby power consumption of that electric appliance. Although power to operate a built-in clock is included in the standby power consumption in addition to that of said parts, the most part is occupied by that of said parts.
Recently, the reduction of the standby power consumption of various electric appliances has advanced and it is getting smaller. For example, some of the newest TV sets and video decks can stop the power supply to BS antenna that is a part of the warm-up circuit, or can stop the time display when they are not in use. As a result, some of TV sets and video decks consume the standby power of less than 1 W.
However, since the TV sets and video decks require the mode setting for that purpose or an operation of turning off the power switch of the main body of the appliances instead of the operation of the remote controller, it is somewhat troublesome. Therefore, it is feared that quite a few of users of the electric appliances do not use said function, and the effect is not quite sure. And, there is a possibility that a warm-up circuit includes functions that lower the operability of the electric appliances if it is not supplied with power at the start of use of the electric appliance.
Even though the standby power consumption of each electric appliance is small, as the number of electric appliance used are quite large, as a whole, the standby power consumption is quite large. The problem is the power consumption (Wxc2x7H) that is a result of the standby power (W) multiplied by the standby time (H). Even though the standby power consumption is small, the power consumption of an electric appliance becomes quite large if the standby time is long. Therefore, it is required to reduce the standby power consumption of electric appliances much more.
An electric appliance has a manually operated main switch that cuts the power supply to all parts of the electric appliance. If the main switch is turned off, the power supply to the remote-control signal receiver is also terminated and power is not consumed, but it is required to turn the main switch on to make the remote controller usable again. This remarkably lessens the convenience of the remote controller of operating the electric appliance at the remote place from that.
If said main switch is turned off, the power supply to the warm-up circuit is also terminated and power is not consumed, but in some cases, it takes time until the electric appliance starts its functions after the user operated it, and there is a problem that especially the operability of audio-visual equipment becomes worse.
And that, if the main switch is turned off, the power supply to a built-in clock section is also terminated and the time is not displayed. When the main switch is turned on again, there is a possibility that the displayed time is not correct.
In addition, some of the newest electric appliances lack the main switch and do not allow this kind of operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric appliance that can reduce the power consumption, in particular, to provide an electric appliance that can reduce the power consumption without sacrificing the convenience of the remote controller and the effect of the warm-up.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an electric appliance capable of saving power consumption, the electric appliance having its original function, comprising a first unit having an active state for performing the original function, and a rest state, a second unit having an effective state capable of causing the first unit to change from the rest state to the active state and an ineffective state incapable of causing the change in the first unit, and a third unit that changes the second unit from the ineffective state to the effective state when a first predetermined condition is satisfied. A first power consumption occurs in the active state of the first unit. A second power consumption also occurs in the effective state of the second unit although it is less than the first power consumption. The third unit according to the present invention saves the second power consumption until the first predetermined condition is satisfied. The second unit may not cause the first unit to change from the rest state to the active state when the third unit changes the state of the second unit.
Alternatively pursuant to present invention, the third unit changes the second unit from the effective state to the ineffective state when a second predetermined condition is satisfied. Also in this case the second power consumption is saved after the second predetermined condition is satisfied.
Pursuant to another aspect of the present invention, the third unit includes a clock section that outputs a signal at a preset time for changing the state of the second unit. In this case, the predetermined condition corresponds to the outputs of the signal from clock section. In other words, the state of the second unit is changed at the preset time. According to this feature for example, the second unit is kept in the ineffective state in the night for saving the power consumption during the user is sleeping.
Pursuant to a further aspect of the present invention, the electric appliance comprises a remote controller that outputs a control signal. Consequently the second unit includes a signal receiver that receives the control signal from the remote controller to change the first unit from rest state to the active state. Thus, the second unit is made possible to receive the signal from the remote controller when the predetermined condition is satisfied. Accordingly, the second power consumption is saved with the convenience of the remote controller is not sacrificed.
The present invention according to another aspect provides an electric appliance capable of saving power consumption comprising a first unit having an active state and a rest state, a second unit having a preparatory state and a rest state, and a third unit that changes the state of the second unit in response to a condition of the room where the electric appliance is installed. A first power consumption occurs in the active state of the first unit. A second power consumption also occurs in the preparatory state of the second unit although it is less than the first power consumption. The third unit according to the present invention saves the second power consumption while the condition of the room is in a predetermined condition. The second unit may not cause the first unit to change from the rest state to the preparatory state when the third unit changes the state of the second unit.
The second unit in the preparatory state is enabled to change the state of the first unit or facilitates a function of the first unit in the active state.
The third unit may include a sensor that senses a brightness of the room to change the state of the second unit in response to the brightness of the room.
Alternatively, the third unit may include a sensor that senses a presence of a person in the room to change the state of the second unit in response to the presence of the person in the room.
In the above cases, the predetermined condition corresponds to a brightness of the room less than a given value or a presence of no person. According to this feature, the second unit is kept in the rest state in the night or in absence of people in the room for saving the second power consumption.
The present invention also provides a first electric appliance capable of saving power consumption comprising a first unit having an active state and a rest state, a second unit having a preparatory state and a rest state, and a third unit that controls the change in the second unit between the rest state and preparatory state. The electric appliance further comprises a communicator that transmits a signal indicative of the state of the second unit to an external electric appliance. A first power consumption occurs in the active state of the first unit. A second power consumption also occurs in the preparatory state of the second unit although it is less than the first power consumption.
On the other hand, the present invention provides a second electric appliance capable of saving power consumption comprising a first unit having an active state and a rest state, a second unit having a preparatory state and a rest state, a third unit that controls the change in the second unit between the rest state and preparatory state, and a communicator that receives a signal from an external appliance, wherein the third unit changes the state of the second unit in response to the signal received by the communicator. A first power consumption occurs in the active state of the first unit. A second power consumption also occurs in the preparatory state of the second unit although it is less than the first power consumption.
The first electric appliance outputs the signal indicative of the state of its second unit and the second electric appliance receives it. Accordingly, the third unit of the second electric appliance changes the state of its second unit in response to the state of the third unit of the first electric appliance. In other words, the second power consumption of both the electric appliances are achieved at the same time.
The third unit of the first electric appliance may include a clock section that outputs a signal to change the state of the second unit at a preset time, and the communicator transmits the signal from the first electric appliance to the second electric appliance at the preset time. Accordingly, the second electric appliance does not need any clock section.
Alternatively, the third unit of the second electric appliance may further include clock section that outputs a signal to change the state of the second unit at a preset time. And communicator of the second electric appliance receives the preset time to be set in the clock section from the first electric appliance. Further, the current time information for adjusting the clock section may be transmitted from the first electric appliance to the second electric appliance together with the signal. According to this feature, even if a user sets the preset time in the first electric appliance alone, the second power consumption of second electric appliance is also saved. Similarly, even if a user adjusts the clock section of the first electric appliance only, the clock section of the second electric appliance can also keep the correct time.
Further, the present invention provides an electric appliance capable of saving power consumption comprising a clock section having a time keeping state and a rest state, a control section that controls the change in the clock section between the time keeping state and the rest state, a memory capable of storing a preset time for a coming function of the electric appliance, and a switch that turns off the electric appliance. A power consumption occurs in the time keeping state. The clock section adjusts its time for ensuring the function at the preset time when the switch turns off the electric appliance with a preset time stored in the memory.
Pursuant to another aspect of the present invention, the control section changes the clock section from the rest state to the time keeping state when the switch turns off the electric appliance. According to this feature, the clock section is kept in the rest state for saving the power consumption if the preset time is not stored in the memory.
The present invention also provides an electric appliance capable of saving power consumption comprising a clock section having a time keeping state and an rest state, a control section that controls the change in the clock section between the time keeping state and the rest state, the clock section being to be refreshed with the time information on the change from the rest state to the time keeping state, memory capable of storing a preset time for a coming function of the electric appliance, and an inhibitor that inhibits the clock section from changing from the time keeping state to the rest state with the preset time stored in the memory for ensuring the function at the preset time. If any preset time is not stored in the memory, on the contrary, the clock section is allowed to change into the rest state for a power consumption occurring in the time keeping state.
According to the above features and advantages of the present invention, an electric appliance capable of saving power consumption saves the second power consumption without sacrificing the convenience of a remote controller and operability of the electric appliance since the second unit keep a rest state only in the time-zone when an electric appliance is not in use. In other word, the power supply to the second unit, for instance, a remote-control signal receiver and a warm-up circuit is automatically terminated only in the time-zone when an electric appliance is not in use.
Furthermore, since the power supply to each part of the clock section is stopped so far as the reservation function of the electric appliance is not interfered and the time adjustment is automatically made whenever it is required, the second power consumption is saved without sacrificing the function and operability of an electric appliance.